llms.txt: The Complete Guide to the New robots.txt for AI

## What is llms.txt?

Just as robots.txt tells traditional search engine crawlers how to interact with your website, llms.txt is an emerging standard for communicating with AI language model crawlers.

It provides a structured, machine-readable summary of your site that helps AI models understand your content, expertise, and authority.

## Why It Matters

AI crawlers from ChatGPT (GPTBot), Google Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and others are visiting your site regularly. Without clear guidance, they may:

• Misunderstand your site's purpose
• Miss your most important content
• Fail to attribute your expertise correctly
• Index low-value pages instead of cornerstone content

## How to Create llms.txt

### Basic Structure

# Site Name
Brief description of your site and its purpose

## About
Core expertise areas
Key credentials and authority signals
Target audience

## Key Pages
Page Title: Brief description
Page Title: Brief description

## Contact
Name, Role, Contact information

### Best Practices

1. Be concise but comprehensive — AI models process this as context
2. Highlight expertise — make your E-E-A-T signals explicit
3. Link key content — guide AI to your most authoritative pages
4. Update regularly — keep it current with your latest content
5. Use llms-full.txt — for a more detailed version with full content summaries

## Implementation

Place the file at the root of your domain:

• https://yourdomain.com/llms.txt
• https://yourdomain.com/llms-full.txt (extended version)

## What NOT to Do

• Don't stuff keywords — AI models detect and ignore this
• Don't make false claims — verifiable authority only
• Don't over-optimize — natural, helpful descriptions work best
• Don't forget to update — stale llms.txt signals neglect

Part of our Playbook series on ethical GEO implementation.